Shingle



Dec. 14 1926. 1,610,233

c. M. ABBOTT SHINGLE Filed March 9 1925 Hi Z , .m... .ri"

Dal/actor mwmsumwz Patented Dec. 14, 1926.

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES M. ABBOTT, OF WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SAMUEL CABOT, INCL, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

SHINGLE.

Application filed March 9,1925. Serial No. 14,129.

In the manufacture of shingles there has been for a long time a demand for a less expensive'product having the appearance or effect of the so-called split shingle or shake shingle, which by reason oflit-s cost of manufacture can only be sold at a price prohibitive to the average builder.

Various attempts have been made to imitate the characteristic appearance of the split shingle, but such on the whole have either been not successful in imitation, or else have been too expensive to meet the demand. These effects have generally been produced by a gouging or rough-sawing process, by which the irregularities of the split shingle are approximated.

.These irregularities are only a part, and

in fact, of less. importance than other characteristics of thesplit shinglesi There is another and more important characteristic and one that plays a greater part in the effect of the shingled surface when laid, and especially where the shingles are stained so as to produce the effect of age. The factor underlying this appearance is that of the growth of. the material itself. Such shin gles are almost always made from the Wood of treesof the coniferous family. The wood generall considered best for shingles is either t at of the Thuya occidentahs or white cedar, or that of the Thug a plz'cata or red cedar. Such wood is made up of cell structures as true fibre, tracheid, vessel, pith ray, resin duet, etc. In Gymnospermae where vessels and fibres are absent, the late summer wood is composed of radially narrow thick walled tracheids, the wood of the succeeding springbeing wide celled and thin walled so that the limit of the years growth is very well marked. The conifers are the most im ortant family of the Gymnospermae. T e shingles are cut in planes radial to the vertical axis of the trunk. This family of trees being of exogenous growth produces alternate rings. In the coniferous family, and particularly in such-species as the cedars, the fibrovascular bundles appear as hard layers alternating. with softer tissue. When split on the quarter the cleavage leaves the harder grain in elevation, thus producing a texture or surface which is not only interesting itself, but is well adapted to takin on coloration of either natural or arti cial character.

I have found that it is possible to produce this same effect upon a sawed shingle havlng the ordinary. smooth or substantially smooth surface left by the saw. I accomplish this by subjecting'the saw shingle to abrasion as by a wire brush or sand-blast or other means. In {so doing, I remove to a perceptible depth the soft edge of the layer between the harder fibre of the intervening growth, leaving that growth in a raised bead-like grain .which gives a very interesting effect and one very closely approximatlng the-surface effect of the split shingle.

While my invention is by its nature somewhat diflicult to illustrate, I have attempted in the accompanying drawings to show diagrammatically atleast the principles involved, although obviously I am unable to illustrate the ultimate effect. In the drawings: v

- Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic section of tree trunk.

Fig. 2 a vertical section on the line 2-2, indicated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View showing-a wire brush in its action on the surface -of a shingle,

Fig. 4 an enlarged section of the treated shingle, and I Fig. 5 a fragmentary plan view of the same.

In these drawings I have indicated at 'l a theoretical transverse section of a trunk in which the ringsR may be taken as representing the annular growths of an exogenous tree. When the trunk is sawed 'or -slit as on the line 22, Fig. 1, these rings appear as layers.

As above stated, the wood in the coniferousfamily, particularly in the cedars, shows strongly its fibro-vascular bundles sep,arated by softer tissue. This gives to the wood a peculiar splittin usually leaves the arder fibre in elevation. This I have attempted to illustrate in Figs. 4 and 5. In Fig. 4, which is intended to quality and on cleavage be a section of wood transverse to the grain,

a brush naturally find the softer portions 1' which yield more-readily than the harder portions R. The result is a slight grooving of the softer portions leaving the harder portions R in rounded relief in very close approximation of the'natural cleavage of the wood. In this condition the harder fibre is exposed to wear, so that when once treated my shingles have a permanent surface effect which does not vary or which varies only slightly with the passage of time. 4

In addition to the matter of appearance, my shingles have an advantage over either the split shingle or the gouged or sawed shingle, .in that while the surface appears to be rough and uneven, it is in fact substantially a fiat surface so that in laying up the shingles the lapsiare ti ht and the shingles less liable to become oosened o to be opened to the. weather.

The method is at once. a simple and inexpensive one and shingles can be produced in quantity at a low figure and with apparatus that, is simple and yet eflicient.

While I have discussed my invention with particular reference to shingles,'it willbe understood that clapboards or other lumber may be treated in the same manner. The term shingle, therefore is not to be understood as. one of limitation, but merely as illustrative of prepared lumber. Moreover,

the treatment may be effected by any convenient means by which the softer tissue is removed and the harder left in-relief. All such variants of my method are therefore to be understood as within the spirit of my invention. I

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. As a new. article of manufacture, a quarter sawed shin 1e of the wood of a coni- .fer having a sur ace thereof abraded to remove a portion of the softer layersof the wood while leavingthe exposed harder intermediate layers in relief.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a quarter sawed shingle of the wood of a conifer, having a portion of the softer layers of the wood of asurface thereof removed and the exposed harder intermediate layers left in relief.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a sawed shingle of the wood of a conifer having alternate hard and soft rings'of growth exposed on the surface thereof, and having the softer growth removed on one surface to expose the harder intermediate lay ers in relief as longitudinal ridges, to

give anrexpbsable surface of rift shingle character. In testimony whereof I aflix mysignature.

CHARLES M. ABBOTT. 

